Son honours war hero father who saved an Ipswich church

The 100kg bomb smashed the roof of St Mary at the Quay and lodged itself in the stone floor at the foot of the altar on July 8, 1940.

But fortunately for the church neither that bomb or the other six released on the quay that night exploded.

St Mary at the Quay is now run by River Church (Image: Newsquest) ​One of the reasons was because of Charles Atkinson, a 32-year-old bomb disposal expert at the time, who was called to defuse it and saved the church from destruction - along with nearby areas which were also hit with unexploded bombs.

Charles Atkinson (left) with his commanding officer stood with a bomb which was on display at his base camp - not the Ipswich bomb (Image: Mike Atkinson)He told his son, Mike, that one day he would like to revisit the church because it was such an unusual event, but he never found the time to do it.

Mike, 77, has now travelled from Southport to the church with his son, also called Mike, 50, and two grandsons Stephen, 14, and Daniel, 12.

From left to right: Mike, 50, Stephen, 14, Daniel, 12, Mike, 77 (Image: Newsquest) At the end of his pilgrimage, Mike, who used to work as a builder, spoke about his father’s influence: “He was a hero. He knew hard work was the route to success and that was my bible.

“He had to work for everything, and he was a disciplinarian, but he would do anything for anybody.”

Charles was from Liverpool and worked in street construction before becoming a highways superintendent.

When the war began, he was in the Territorial Army and was sent to the Royal Engineers where he was told he would work on bomb disposal.

Charles Atkinson aged 28 in uniform (Image: Mike Atkinson) Mike explained how little support his father received: “He said, okay I’m looking forward to the training and they said, well, there isn't any training because we’ve never had to do this before. You’re going to learn on the job."

Charles Atkinson on a motorbike with others preparing to travel to the site of an unexploded bomb which needed to be disarmed (Image: Mike Atkinson) Charles was eventually decorated by King George VI at Buckingham Palace with the British Empire Medal but it was not for his defusal of the Ipswich bombs, it was another even more perilous mission.

“A particular kind of bomb with a fuse called a ZUS 40, had been getting dropped and every time there'd been an attempt to disarm it, it had blown up and taken the man with it,” Mike explained.

“Another one landed and they asked my dad if he'd be prepared to attempt it, and he agreed."

Mike added: “At that time he was married with two children. Also, he knew what the cost was to a family to lose a parent in a war because he never knew his own father as he was killed in 1918 in the First World War. 

Charles with his wife Sarah, Mike's mother (Image: Mike Atkinson) “Fortunately, he was successful and that allowed them to discover what booby traps were involved in the fuse and they could then disarm it in future with that knowledge.”

Charles’ life continued on an impressive path after the war ended as he turned his hand to coaching boxers.

“He coached the first ever ABA champion to come from Liverpool,” said Mike.

The England Boxing National Amateur Championships, previously known as the ABA Championships, is the premier boxing tournament hosted annually by England Boxing.

“He also trained John Conteh as an amateur who was the first person from Liverpool to win a world championship.

“He trained a world champion on the professional side of the game as well, a man called Shea Neary.

“It was a week away from when Neary was going to fight to become the champion that he went into hospital and was diagnosed with cancer, so he didn't get to corner him on the night he won the title.

“He died six weeks later on December 17, 1996."

The Liverpool Echo published tribute pieces on Charles after his death (Image: Mike Atkinson) Charles is survived by three generations who all admire his life and one of his sons, also called Charles, went on to train ten world champion boxers himself.